Detroit Free Press Columnist

The moment was there for one of those occasions so regular not long ago that they were taken for granted, but strangely so rare during this home stand — the opportunity for a starting pitcher to shake manager Jim Leyland’s waiting hand as he approached the dugout following a quality start.

Jose Alvarez had that chance with two outs in the sixth inning Wednesday night and the Tigers leading, 3-2, at Comerica Park.

The rookie had one last batter, one last opportunity. But he surrendered a two-run home run to the Angels’ eighth-place hitter, light-hitting shortstop Erick Aybar.

“We needed him to get that last out,” Leyland said, “but it wasn’t his fault. We asked an awful lot of him because we wanted to try and get our bullpen back into sync.”

It is starting pitching that makes the bullpen. The Tigers’ 7-4 loss to Los Angeles — their eighth straight loss to the Angels — was another example of an excellent rotation still struggling.

Plenty was asked of Alvarez. Could he give the Tigers one of their few six-inning, quality starts of this 10-game home stand?

Five of the Tigers’ previous eight starts were five innings or fewer. Entering Wednesday’s game with the Angels, the Tigers’ starters had an ERA of just under 7.00 in those eight starts.

It’s likely nothing more than a blip. Ebbs and flows are inevitable in a 162-game season. But the inexplicably poor recent starting pitching should divert some of the criticism from the bullpen. It’s only common baseball sense that if the starters consistently go deep into games, the bullpen can’t help but benefit. They’ll get regular rest and more comfortably fit into their prescribed roles.

Leyland wants to limit his most effective relievers, Drew Smyly and Joaquin Benoit, to one inning, but he can’t do that until he can get longer outings from his starters. Smyly replaced Alvarez after Aybar’s home run and gave up three runs, two hits and two walks in 11⁄3 innings.

“Drew wasn’t sharp,” Leyland said.

The Tigers insist they aren’t worried about their starter’s recent stumbles, aside from Max Scherzer. There’s no need for sweating this slump, but everyone must understand this team will go as far as their rotation takes them.

Washington gave closer Rafael Soriano a two-year, $28-million contract — although a sizeable chunk of that salary gets postdated to 2017-18. But it was a deal intended on sending a message throughout MLB that the Nationals were serious about winning now ... and that they had the right combination of experience and youth to make that happen.

But the Nationals are currently trapped at .500 primarily because their rotation after Jordan Zimmerman hasn’t lived up to expectations. Dan Haren is on the disabled list. Prodigy Stephen Strasburg and premier trade acquisition Gio Gonzalez have struggled.

Those complaining the loudest about the Tigers’ back-end-of-the-bullpen issues use the Nationals as an example of how the Tigers failed during the off-season in not foreseeing such potential woes. But Washington is six games out of first place in the National League East. It doesn’t matter that they boast a quality closer.

The Tigers know the best short-term acquisition they can make now is getting a healthy Anibal Sanchez back into the rotation.

“If the starting pitching does its job,” Leyland professes, “the bullpen will take care of itself. One is dependent upon the other.”